Meanwhile, a Japanese rock act we last covered in 2015 cracks the [7]s once more…
[Video]
[7.17]
Jonathan Bradley: A Sakanaction hallmark is their ability to absorb tension into a groove, clamping down on their dance-rock pulse until the point at which they can finally permit themselves to let go; the resulting gush is an emotional release as well as a physical one. “Nylon no Ito” is a slow burn even by their standards, and it is not until the two-minute mark that they allow the track to pick up even a moderate sense of momentum. Before that, it is studied, its guitar arpeggios almost post-hardcore, augmented by complex little beats constructed from drum patterns and soft hand claps, and filled out with watercolor synth blooms. It is all pretty enough as is, and even though the eventual crescendo is more restrained than usual, its yearning still hits hard when the tide washes out and Ichiro Yamaguchi incants “kono umi ni itai” again and again.
[7]
Will Adams: An act as consistent as Sakanaction can afford to retread the same ground — in this case, literally so, seeing as the chorus melody is lifted from a deep cut off their last album. Their real skill is stretching a slow-build-with-expertly-timed-release format across five minutes. So even if the sound leans more toward the band at their most Coldplay affect instead of something bracing like “Tabun Kaze,” the song holds attention from start to finish.
[7]
Ian Mathers: Not quite as mind-blowing and singular as the last time we checked in, but that’s the kind of expectation that can ruin a band (and this is still very good). “Nylon no Ito” is more of a ballad, as aqueous in its build as the video suggests, reaching for the same kind of complicated yearning as I’d expect from (say) later period Mew. You don’t need the lyrics translated for the end to rip your heart out.
[8]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: A dazzling exercise in tension and release, drawn out over such an extended period that by its end your own self begins to feel distilled.
[8]
Katherine St Asaph: Pretty and sorta-sweeping as usual; also, limpidly sung as usual.
[6]
Iain Mew: Big moments in life don’t always come with an appropriate physical accompaniment where you are. Sometimes your heart races and it feels like the world should be exploding around you and instead it does the reverse and you’re still standing in a drab corridor but now it’s one which is thickly silent too. “Nylon no Ito” starts off like that moment, an recognisable intense Sakanaction epic smothered in fabric haze, trying not to feel the pain and feeling nothing and everything instead. I love its slow effect, and I wish they found a way to develop it to an ending that wasn’t to let the air in and turn it into the standard that it very much isn’t before that.
[7]